However, we found that among the 36 heroes raised by Zhu Yuanzhang, the most famous Liu Bowen was named "Sincerity" by Zhu Yuanzhang, ranking first from the bottom, and the position of Earl could not be passed on to future generations. Then many people will be surprised. As the most important counselor of Zhu Yuanzhang, why was Liu Bowen named "Sincere Uncle"? Isn't his contribution not great enough?
This will start when Liu Bowen came out of the mountain. In A.D. 1360, Zhu Yuanzhang and Li Shanchang discussed heroes in the world together, and soon talked about "three outstanding heroes of early han dynasty". Zhu Yuanzhang said, "Now you are my Xiao He and Xu Da is my Han Xin. So where is Sean? " So Li Shanchang recommended Song Lian, but Zhu Yuanzhang said, "I think Liu Bowen is my Sean, and I will find a way to invite him out of the mountain." Later conclusions also proved that Zhu Yuanzhang's choice was not wrong, and Liu Bowen did play a decisive role.
In the decisive battle between Zhu Yuanzhang and Chen Youliang, it was because of Liu Bowen's correct suggestion that Zhu Yuanzhang defeated his greatest enemy, Chen Youliang, and finally unified the south, laying a solid foundation for conquering the Yuan Dynasty in the future. Some people may speculate, is it because Liu Bowen is not from Huaixi, and Zhu Yuanzhang is crony, so he gave Liu Bowen the lowest title?
In fact, Liu Bowen has another unknown identity, that is, he once worked as an official in the Yuan Dynasty for more than ten years. Although the position is not high, it is regarded as "traitor" by some ministers. For example, in the second year of Hongwu, Liu Bowen was impeached as an imperial envoy at that time, and the official claimed that he was a "minister of national subjugation and could not be reused". So the next year, Liu Bowen had to take the initiative to step down and retire. How dare he expect Zhu Yuanzhang to give him a higher reward?